Los Angeles Lakers at New Orleans Hornets

Betting Odds

Point Spread: Los Angeles Lakers (-5.5)
Game Total Line: (183.5)
(wagering lines available at Sportsbook.com)

The Lakers cruised to a 106-90 victory on Tuesday. There were major questions heading into Game 5 because of Kobe Bryant’s sprained ankle, but he answered all of them. Bryant went 8-for-13 from the field and finished with a team-high 19 points. Bryant looked as explosive as ever, including a nice dunk over Emeka Okafor in the first half that gave some real life to the Lakers.

Los Angeles got a well-balanced effort on offense. Bryant was one of six different players to score in double figures, including all five starters. That’s crucial with Pau Gasol playing one of the most underwhelming stretches of his Lakers career; the big man has yet to score more than 17 points in the series.

The bench was also much sharper than it was in the Game 4 loss. In that game, the Lakers reserves combined for just 18 points and eight rebounds. On Tuesday, they put up 31 points and 18 rebounds—a much more reasonable contribution.

New Orleans is trying to find a way to overcome a serious size disadvantage. The Hornets were severely outmuscled in Game 5, which lead to the Lakers dominating in rebounds (42-25), second-chance points (22-2) and points in the paint (42-30). There’s not much New Orleans can do in that regard other than outwork Los Angeles and hope for the best.

New Orleans also has to do a better job protecting the ball. The Hornets had a series-worst 19 turnovers on Tuesday. When the Lakers clearly have such a talent advantage on the Hornets, they can’t afford to make that many mistakes—and the team is definitely capable of keeping the turnovers in check. In Game 1, for example, the Hornets gave the ball away just three times.

Chris Paul continues to shine in the series. He scored 20 points and dished 12 assists in the loss, though Paul also had four of the team’s turnovers. Marco Belinelli (21 points) and Trevor Ariza (22 points) also enjoyed solid games for New Orleans, though nobody else cracked double-figures in scoring. Grabbing more rebounds and cutting out turnovers would make a huge difference, as the Hornets would have more possessions to work with.

The total has rotated between over and under in seven straight games played between Los Angeles and New Orleans. It went over on Tuesday. BetED has set the total for Thursday’s game at 183 points.

Point Spread Pick

The New Orleans Hornets played their worst game of the series losing 106-90 on Tuesday in Los Angeles. The Hornets turned the ball over 19 times and were dominated on the boards giving the Lakers a big edge in second chance points (22-2) and points in the paint (42-30). The Lakers have more depth on the bench, a huge size advantage and are by far the more a talented team but some how the Hornets have been able to keep up with them despite losing key players to injuies near the end of the regular season. Lakers finish off the Hornets tonight in a big way.
Take the Lakers -5.5 at Bodog where you can bet sports and play poker (US clients included).